Some Basil Hayden Love.

[cowdery]

I did a tasting yesterday with four young guys. We tasted Knob Creek, Maker's 46, Woodford Reserve, and Basil Hayden.

Everything was served at bottle proof and I told them what the proofs were. Water was provided for dilution, if they wanted to. I did warn them that they probably did not want to dilute the Hayden.

I asked which one they liked best and Basil Hayden was the consensus pick.

[Enoch]

It is clearly my wife's favorite. I keep it for when she occasionally wants bourbon. It is a mild easily drinkable bourbon for newbies. I don't know about your tasters but many young people like it.

[WhiskyToWhiskey]

Beam puts Booker's at barrel proof, knob creek single barrell release upto 60%...I wonder why they don't try basil hayden at closer to barrell proof?

[mosugoji64]

Beam puts Booker's at barrel proof, knob creek single barrell release upto 60%...I wonder why they don't try basil hayden at closer to barrell proof?

Maybe OGD 114 occupies their "high proof" brand space. I'm not in marketing, so I'm just throwin' stuff out there ...

[ILLfarmboy]

I'm left wondering how young is young and if they are also green as well as young.

Basil Hayden isn't one of those very few 80 proofers I find interesting, let alone worth the money. (off the top of my head I can only think of one, Templeton, and Templeton sure ain't worth the money)

[Ejmharris]

Is it worth the money is a very good question. The fact that I got mine for about $15 below normal retail I enjoy it quite a bit. It is not something that is terribly complex but on nights when I want something smooth and easy I grab my BH and give it a good pour.


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[moose]

For the money, there are better pours out there. As much as I have wanted to like BH (I love the bottle presentation), I just can't. It comes across almost as a rebranded middle-lower shelf juice.

[Gentleman Racer]

Interesting conclusion. Basil Hayden is my least favorite of the Beam small batches. If I was to predict the preference of young/new tasters, I'd have gone with Woodford.

[Beer&Bourbon]

Even when I enjoyed the small batch collection, Basil Hayden never stood out for me. I still have a bottle of Knob, Baker's, and Booker's kicking around, but never got past a a pour at the bar for BH. (That said, I also don't really enjoy OGD, but I do like other low shelf bourbon such as VOB BiB, HH white BiB, J.T.S. Brown BiB, etc.)

I'm still pretty young, but I also never enjoyed Woodford. Both are too timid and plain for the price tags they carry. [My wife would go further and suggest that Woodford is one of the most atrocious bourbons available. And yes, she does enjoy a good bourbon (neat). ]

[JayMonster]

Nearly bought a bittle of this to try after reading some positive thoughts on it. Rhen found out it was aged, dilluted OGD. Since I despise OGD, I sure as heck wasn't going to pay up for it.